


Ephemeral

by ColourBlots



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood and Gore, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pidge uses she/her, Shiro is still missing, implied shallura but its minor, klance, lance keith and hunk are 19ish, this takes place just after the s2 finale, this will be a bit violent sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2018-12-02 00:44:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11498241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColourBlots/pseuds/ColourBlots
Summary: A strange signal prompts a visit to an equally strange planet. The paladins, stranded and still reeling from the disappearance of their leader, realize that they might need to work on their teamwork before they can even start getting off the planet - especially Lance and Keith.





	1. Pulse

**Author's Note:**

> Hello~ You can find me at (https://texanspaceranger.tumblr.com/); I post art sometimes. Come say hi!
> 
> Note: I know there are rumours surrounding S3 and possible lion-switching, but until that is confirmed, for the purpose of this story they are piloting their original lions and cannot form Voltron.

            “There it is again,” Pidge said, adjusting her glasses and jabbing her finger towards the glowing screen in front of her. “The same signal, over and over. That’s the fifth time in… two hours, I think.”

            Lance looked up from where he was lounging on his chair, a bowl of half-eaten food goo sitting on his lap. His own glowing screen blinked out of view as he stood and made his way over to her seat. Keith was already there, his arm resting on the top of the chair. Lance let out a puff of annoyed breath at the sight.

            Ever since Shiro’s disappearance, the two couldn’t stand each other. Whatever bond had been building between the two of them had fizzled out so fast it made Lance wonder if there had really been anything there in the first place. It wasn’t that he had a problem with Keith being the leader, not really – it was just that Keith made some stupid ass decisions sometimes, and Lance didn’t agree with him. But whenever he tried to suggest a different idea, it came out as less of a composed plan and more of a very, very vocal argument. So – okay, yeah, maybe it bothered him a little bit that Keith was the leader just like that. They could have at least been co-leaders or something. Without Shiro there to be a buffer between them, they ended up yelling at each other rather than working together.

            Allura spent most of her time at her control panel with her eyes closed, searching the stars for some hint as to where the black paladin might be. The last time they’d started fighting and distracted her, she’d shut them up with a look so vicious Lance could swear he’d felt a knife go through him. That had been two hours ago, right when Pidge first detected the transmission, and the princess hadn’t moved since.

            He shook his head and leaned against the other side of Pidge’s chair. “Where is it coming from?”

            She squinted at the screen. “A planet a few galaxies away. It doesn’t have any record of life or a name, but that’s definitely where it’s coming from.”

            Keith leaned in closer to the screen as if he actually understood all of the calculations Pidge had been doing – _yeah, right_. “Does it say anything?”

            Hunk, who was sitting on the floor by Pidge’s feet, piped up, “See, that’s the thing – we’ve been looking at it for like, two vargas now, and it doesn’t _say_ anything, exactly. More like it’s just a repeating pattern of sounds. It might be Morse code, we think, but it’s coming through pretty jumbled.”

            Lance’s eyes narrowed. He already didn’t like where this was going. He risked a brief glance at Allura, standing with her hands on the control panel. He knew how badly they needed Shiro back – how badly they all wanted him to come home, safe and sound. His throat felt tight just thinking about it. But she was so focused on Shiro that she wasn’t even listening, which meant they’d have to make this decision by themselves.

            Again.

            “It could be a distress signal,” Keith mused.

            “Or it could be a trap,” Lance countered, ignoring Pidge’s pointed look. Their first mission without Shiro piloting the black lion had been a disaster he did not want to repeat. “Like the last distress signal we got! Anyone remember that? Hunk was so messed up after that fight –”

            “Lance, it’s no big deal.” Hunk said quietly.

            “We can’t just avoid every signal we get because of one bad fight,” Keith said. “Besides, we don’t know if this is a distress signal or not. I think it’s worth checking out.”

            Lance blinked. “Are you serious? _Why?_ If it’s not a distress signal, we could spend our time looking for Shiro –”

            “What if it _is_ Shiro?” Keith cut him off, his voice taut. “Everyone learns Morse code at the Garrison.”

            “Don’t you two start getting all sensitive again,” Pidge warned. “Lance, as much as I agree we need to be careful, I think we should check it out too.”

            Lance sighed, crossing his arms across his chest.

            Her eyes softened. “I haven’t managed to find my brother yet, and now… now I’ve lost another one. If it could be Shiro, I won’t risk ignoring it.”

            The tightness in Lance’s throat constricted even further. He looked down at Hunk, his best friend, who had been sitting quietly during the exchange. Hunk had been his usual loveable self, but whenever he thought no one was looking, there was no missing the sadness and exhaustion on his face. “Hunk, buddy, what do you think we should do?”

            Keith shot him a look but said nothing as Hunk stood, his eyes determined. “For Shiro, I think we should check it out.”

_Quiznak_. Lance bit back another sigh and looked across the top of the chair at Keith. His dark eyes were unreadable, guarded pools, but when he finally met Lance’s gaze, he could see a glimmer of hope there, too. He gave Keith a slight nod, the only agreement the two had come to in weeks. “Alright, alright, oh awesome leader. Let’s go check it out.”

 

***

 

            “Are you sure you don’t want me to come along?” Allura asked, frowning. The paladins stood in full armour, ready to leave. The princess had finally taken a break from her search and was leaning slightly against the control panel, sweat beading across her brow. Coran hovered nearby, stroking his mustache with worried eyes.

            “We’ll be fine,” Keith assured her. “Besides, you need to rest, and we probably won’t need to form Voltron at all. We’re just checking where the signal is coming from.”

            Lance chewed the inside of his cheek, saying nothing. Their inability to form Voltron had led to Hunk’s injuries against a rogue Galra fleet, but Allura was constantly exhausted from her search and they had no idea if any of the lions would accept a new, albeit temporary, paladin. So, every mission they flew out as four, just in case something went awry.

            “I do not like this,” Allura muttered, “but if you think this signal could be that Morse code, and Shiro would know it, then I see no other choice.”

            “We’ll be just fine, Princess,” Lance winked at her, his usual sly smile in full force. “Try not to miss me too much.”

            Allura scoffed, but he could see a ghost of a smile on her lips. He knew she hated his flirting (and that was half the reason he did it), but it helped keep her mind off Shiro’s disappearance for a few moments – and his mind, too. He hadn’t let his worries spill over, not once to anyone, and any distraction was a welcome distraction. Even if that distraction earned him glares from the Princess and eye rolls from everyone else. Even if he felt like he was suffocating under the weight of his feelings, and it got worse every day.

            “You do need the rest, Princess,” Coran said. “Even just one or two vargas!”

            “Alright, Coran.” Allura smiled wearily at him. “If you insist.”

            “We’ll be back before you know it,” Hunk said.

 

***

 

            The blue lion shot from the wormhole at dizzying speed and Lance’s stomach dropped to the bottom of his feet. He would never get used to that feeling, a strange mix of excitement and nausea that made his stomach roll. He shook his arms at his sides in a little dance to try and shake the feeling away as he peered through the window. Below the blue lion was the planet they sought, covered in a beautiful array of blues and greens with a few wispy cloud formations visible even from this distance. It reminded him of Earth so vividly that his eyes began to burn with tears, his mouth open in a small ‘o’. He frowned and rubbed at his eyes with his fingers as Pidge’s face appeared on the screen in front of him.

            “Okay, the signal comes out every half an hour or so,” she said, fiddling with some controls beyond the screen. “We should hear another one right away. Once we do, I want to descend through the atmosphere fairly slowly so I can get some clearer readings.”

            “How fast should we descend?” Lance asked, pulling his hands away from his face. Jeez, Shiro’s disappearance had thrown his emotions into whack.

            “Uhh, well, I’d like to be about halfway to the planet’s surface by the time the second wave hits. So that fast.”

            “Very specific.” Hunk’s voice crackled through the comms.

            “Just wait for the signal,” Pidge grumbled.

            As she’d predicted, a moment later, Lance heard the signal through his helmet, a repeating series of broken up clicks and tones. At the same time, he felt a pulse of energy brush against the blue lion, gently, like an ocean wave kissing his toes on Veradero beach. Blue rocked backwards slightly and he felt her unease echo through his mind. “What is it, Blue?” He asked, his hand tightening on the armrest when she did not respond. “Guys, did you feel that?”

            “Pidge, what the hell was that?” Keith’s voice was surprisingly calm.

            “I… I’m not sure.” Pidge, thankfully, sounded nervous. “It’s like the signal is being broadcasted by a physical… wave, of sorts. It’s still too broken for me to make any sense of it. I think we are still out of range. We have to get closer.”

            “Blue really didn’t seem to like it,” Lance began, unnerved that his lion had gone so silent. “Pidge, are you sure this is Morse code?” Oh, he did not like this. At all. “I vote we turn around and go back to the castle and pretend we never saw anything.”

            “But we won’t know until we go closer!”

            “I also vote castle,” Hunk said. “Look, I want to find Shiro just as much as anyone, but my lion did not like that weird wave thing at all.”

            Lance leaned back against his chair. “Well, Keith? What’s the leader say?”

            _Leader_. The word tasted bitter in his mouth every time.

            Keith’s reply came without hesitation. “Let’s go. If we still get nothing after the second wave, we’ll leave.”

            Lance nodded to himself. That was reasonable, even if he didn’t like it. “Alright, samurai. Lead the way.”

            A moment, and then –

            “No ‘awesome leader’? It’s samurai now?” Keith asked. Lance could tell the prick was grinning.

            Lance couldn’t help the smile on his face, the bitterness and painful memories of Earth fading from his mind. He guided the blue lion to follow Red towards the surface. “Wouldn’t want you to get a big head if I keep calling you ‘oh awesome leader’ all the time.”

            “Damn, just when I was getting used to it.”

            Lance barked out a short laugh, clamping a hand over his lips to silence himself. Keith? Making jokes? Hunk had mentioned something about Keith making an actual joke while they were off collecting crystals from the weblum, but Lance hadn’t believed it. Keith and jokes did not compute. It was like oil and water, unmixable. More than that, it was the first time he and Keith hadn’t started yelling at each other over an exchange in weeks.

            Maybe that bond they’d been working on wasn’t completely gone just yet.

            Or, maybe the weight of leadership had already made Keith snap.

            One of the two.

            The descent was mostly silent, the sound of fingers tapping on screens occasionally cutting through the comms as Hunk and Pidge worked with the samples of the signal they had collected. Lance, with nothing to do, leaned back a bit in his chair, lost in thought. He’d been a mess since they’d found the black lion empty. He could barely eat, and when he did, it just made him feel ill. The tiniest things made him depressed; just walking past the black lion’s hangar would bring up a wave of sadness so large, so consuming, that his eyes would tear up instantly and he would make any excuse to take a long, long walk.

            The worst part was sleeping. Every night, all he could see was snapshots of their last battle against Zarkon’s fleet. He could still feel Haggar’s strange magic coursing through his blood and searing across his skin, ripping his mind and body away from Voltron and his lion. He had thought he was going to die that day. Maybe had died, or at least came close. It haunted his dreams and he would wake covered in sweat, too afraid to close his eyes again.

            Not that he told anyone. Hunk was dealing with it, Pidge was dealing with it, Keith was dealing with it – he could deal with it. Pidge and Hunk were more outspoken and had come to confide in each other, and Keith was so busy trying to fill Shiro’s shoes that he probably didn’t have time to even be sad. And Allura busied herself in searching every waking moment, as if it would make his absence hurt less.

            So Lance just kept flirting and joking and laughing, like always, just to give everyone some amount of normal.

           “Get ready, guys,” Pidge said, snapping Lance out of his thoughts. “The wave is coming in thirty ticks.”

            He felt Blue brush against the edge of his consciousness, calmer now. Ready.

            The comms were deathly silent as all four paladins seemed to hold a collective breath. Lance peered at the planet below, waiting for the wave to hit. He squinted at a slightly shimmer in the air – wind through the clouds? He blinked and it was gone. _I need more sleep._

            The blue lion began to shake beneath him. He blinked again and there were more shimmers in the air now, closer, as Pidge began counting down from ten. Every inch of his body was screaming at him to move, but he held his ground, and he felt Blue steady herself with him, her warmth giving him comfort.

            “Four, three, two…”

            One never came.

            The pulse slammed into the blue lion so hard that Lance’s head smacked back against the headrest with a sharp sting of pain and his lion tumbled backwards through the air in a dizzying array of somersaults. Moments later, he heard an muffled _boom_ as his lion was thrown again and the lights in the cockpit blared red. He barely had time to blink dancing spots from his vision before his lion crashed into something – another lion? – and threw him sideways in his seat. Before he could assess the damage, Blue just – stopped.

             “Oh, quiznak,” Lance hissed, tugging on the controls as he fought to get his lion airborne and stop their freefall towards the planet. He couldn’t feel her warm presence in his mind at all. He swore again as most of the lights died and the screens flickered out in front of him. “Guys? Guys! Hey! I need some help over here!”

            There was no response from the comms. Lance whipped his head around to look at the rest of Blue – even if he could get to the emergency hatch, they’d hit the ground before he could get out. He’d die for sure. He looked around wildly, his breath coming in short, panicked gasps. “Okay, okay,” he said, double checking that he was fastened into the seat, his helmet, the air supply. “Oh, shit. Shit, shit, _shit_.”

            There was nothing more he could do as the beautiful, blue-green planet came rushing up to meet him.


	2. Crash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in time to celebrate the release of S3~ I'm working on putting together a playlist for this fic too; it'll probably be up with chapter 3.
> 
> Find me at (https://texanspaceranger.tumblr.com/)!

            Lance’s body hurt.

            Everything hurt. He opened his eyes slowly, afraid to breathe, liquid fire coating his ribs, his lungs, his throat. Bright red lights blared above him – the emergency lights in Blue’s cockpit, he realized. His head was spinning. He squinted against the glare and attempted a shallow breath, barely sucking any air past his teeth.

            The air was horribly hot against his lungs. He burst into a vicious fit of coughing that shook his entire body, choking on nothing. He blinked warm tears from his eyes and tried again, breathing slowly, fighting against the burn until he could at least take slow, shallow breaths.

            He needed to get up. He had come to the vague realization that he was lying on was the floor of Blue’s cockpit, but he couldn’t really make sense of where his limbs were. The fire in his lungs was all-consuming, holding his attention in an iron grip.

_Get up. You got this._

             Panting through gritted teeth, Lance heaved himself forwards –

             And screamed.

             He screamed as jagged knives tore into his left arm, ravaging the flesh from forearm to shoulder, hot blood spilling out across the surface of his skin. He couldn’t move the arm at all, as if someone was clamping it down and gleefully dragging a blade across the skin. He slumped back down and turned his head, ignoring the ache in his neck, desperate for a glimpse of his arm. In the dim light, all he could see was a pile of crumpled debris. His arm was buried.

             White hot agony throbbed from shoulder to fingertip, every nerve on fire. He bit back a sob of pain and whipped his head to the right. His right arm was free, but he was buried from the waist down in broken metal and glass. If he’d had both arms, he could have dug himself out. He tried to twist his body, but the debris was too heavy; he couldn’t even dig his other arm out.

_I’m so, so screwed._

             Lance sucked in a breath.

             He lifted a shaking hand to the bottom of his helmet and shoved it off, pausing to let his head rest against the mercifully cool floor.

             Another breath.

             He tried to lift his body up again, only one side, to see if he could reach his wounded arm. The mere movement made his body roar with pain so intense he felt his consciousness slipping into darkness. He couldn’t pass out. He was bleeding and utterly alone with no one to help him.

               But he just felt so _heavy_.

               He thrashed against the weight, roaring right back at the pain as he was pulled into the dark.

 

***

 

            “Lance? Hunk? Pidge?” Keith tapped the mic on his helmet again, frustration bubbling in his chest. “Guys! Come on.”

            Nothing.

            Keith growled, considering ripping the helmet off and chucking it as far as he possibly could across the surface of the goddamn planet. He’d probably die, seeing as the atmosphere was not likely cut out for human lungs – or maybe he wouldn’t, being half Galra. It still took him a minute to remember, sometimes.

            He glanced behind him, Red’s fallen figure growing smaller as she lay immobile in the small crater they’d created upon landing. She looked so vulnerable without the glowing blue shield around her. He couldn’t feel the lion in the back of his mind at all. She had done her best to shield the cockpit as they’d fallen, tucking into a ball just before crashing into the surface. When he’d come to, slumped against his seatbelt, only the stupid red lights were on and metal and fried wiring were scattered everywhere. And his lion had felt –

            Keith shook his head.

            For a moment, he’d thought –

            Thought that maybe she was gone.

            Thought that he was alone, again.

            He pushed the thought from his mind.

            And now, to make things all the more fucking spectacular, the stupid space helmet wasn’t working. He had no idea where any of the Paladins were, or if they were even alive. He would have likely stayed with Red for hours if he hadn’t caught the glimpse of a mound of blue metal in the distance, barely visible against the lush green landscape around them. So rather than stay inside his unresponsive lion, Keith set out to find Lance and Blue.

            He took another step, wincing at the jolt of pain that shot through his ribs. He was almost certain one was broken or fractured. Aside from that, he had been lucky. His one and only injury came from slamming into the restraints that had also saved his life. He hoped Lance had been so lucky.

            He needed a stupid joke or a witty line to greet him when he found the blue lion. He just needed to see Lance’s crooked smile waiting for him, the blue paladin in one piece. Safe.

            Even though Lance had been getting on his nerves a hell of a lot lately, there was something so reassuring in his easy smile that when Lance smiled at him Keith felt – well, he felt normal again. His smile made Keith feel like leading was as easy as breathing. As if Keith had always been the leader and that was good and simple and _normal_ , because like Lance’s smile, nothing had changed. It was only when that smile disappeared and Lance had a different – and often better – idea that Keith remembered that he had no clue what he was doing. Lance disagreeing with him felt like a punch in the gut. It brought every insecurity and fear roaring to life, and he would reply too harshly, and then things went to shit.

            He pushed his tired feet forwards, urging them to go faster. The blue lion grew closer and closer until Keith was standing at the edge of the crater, panting, the wind tugging at his armour as he stared down at the wreckage. Blue was in bad shape. It was obvious that she had landed almost face-first into the ground from the massive pile of broken earth and scorched vegetation surrounding her head; the crater itself stretched behind her for what seemed like forever, a clear trail of tumbling and skidding upon impact.

            He decided to try the helmet one more time. “Lance? Lance, I found Blue. I’m coming down, so meet me outside if you can.”

            No answer, and no static to tell him the helmet was even transmitting.

            Keith swore under his breath and began descending towards the blue lion in small bursts of his jetpack. The rock and grass under his feet shifted dangerously with each landing and kicked up clouds of dust. He stumbled forwards near the bottom of the crater, arms flailing as he landed hard on his knees on the earth floor. He groaned and pushed himself up, thankful for all his previous tumbles in the desert back on earth. His body was used to taking a bit of beating from some unfortunate botched landings.

            He took a breath to steady himself and took off at a quick jog, ignoring the throb in his knees and the dryness of his throat. It would be impossible to get into Blue’s cockpit the usual way, so he opted for the emergency hatch on the bottom of her chest. He came to a stop before it and shoved several cracked rocks aside that were blocking it. He was lucky she’d landed with her body twisted to the side – there was barely enough room to awkwardly crouch-walk under her leg and prop open the hatch.

            Keith stood with his knees bent under the hatch and locked his fingers around the handle, twisting and pushing up as he heaved with his other arm against the heavy metal door. The door groaned as it yielded slightly, opening just a crack. Not enough.

            He braced his feet wider and gave one, sharp push –

            The hatch flipped up with a loud pop, clanging against the floor of Blue’s interior as Keith let it go with a yelp of surprise. He sighed with relief and stood, bracing his palms against either side of the open door to finally pull himself inside.

            The world seemed to tilt as Keith closed the hatch behind him. He disabled the full visor in his helmet and swallowed before raising his voice. “Lance? Are you here?”

            He hadn’t really had time to work on the lions with Pidge or Hunk yet, but he knew from their descriptions that this was the maintenance bay. Wiring and control panels formed a dimly lit maze around him as he looked for the ladder to ascend to the upper part of the lion. It was tucked against the left corner of the back wall, almost invisible behind a large Altean computer system. Keith stood and half-walked, half-fell towards it, the slant of the floor making it difficult to walk with any dignity.

            “Lance?” He tried again as he pulled himself up the ladder. Still nothing. “Damn it.”

            He emerged into the main hangar of the blue lion, his eyes locked on the sealed doors leading to the cockpit. With Blue down, they wouldn’t open for him without a little tough love. His bayard was in his hand in an instant. He jammed one end of the sword into the crack between the doors and leaned into the blade, straining against it as the doors slowly began to slide apart. “Come on, come on,” he gasped, his broken rib screaming as he pushed harder against the blade.

            The door shuddered and sprang open. Keith sank forwards, the tip of his sword hitting the floor before he could steady himself. He took a few shaky breaths, waiting for the ache in his ribs to subside before he could move again. “Lance!” He called hoarsely, taking a few hesitant steps into the cockpit as his eyes adjusted to the harsh glare of the emergency lights. Metal shrapnel and frayed wires covered the floor. The pilot’s seat was sitting at an awkward angle, surrounded by a mountain of glass and metal debris, the straps of the seat belt dangling limply in the air. The computers and the glass of Blue’s cockpit had all but shattered, and dirt and rock covered the floor where Lance’s feet would have been.

            Keith’s heart stopped.

_Oh, no, no no no –_

            His eyes focused on the body half buried in a mountain of ruined metal. Pure panic settled like ice into his veins and he shot forwards, ignoring the sharp debris covering the floor and the pain in his ribs, and fell to his knees beside the blue paladin.

            Lance was settled on the ground just left of the pilot seat, as if he had been thrown to the side with the chair. His helmet lay beside him. Keith tore his own helmet off, trying and failing to breathe normally. “Lance? Hey, buddy. Hey. It’s me.” He placed his head against Lance’s breastplate – there it was, a slight rise and fall. “Thank god.”

           He pushed some of the hair from Lance’s forehead and hissed as he saw the blood there. He didn’t see any swelling, but he turned Lance’s head gently to look for any blood or fluid from his ears; if his brain was injured, Keith didn’t have the first idea about treating it –

           “Whaddya doing?”

            Lance’s words were barely more than a rasp, but that was his voice.

            It was the best sound Keith had ever heard.

            Keith turned his wide eyes to Lance’s face. Bright, beautiful sea-blue eyes met his, and there was a slight smile on the paladin’s lips. “This is my lion, man. You can’t just –” He broke off in a fit of raspy coughing. “You can’t just barge in here.”

             Keith blinked. “Wh – what?”

             “I _said_ –”

             Keith scowled at him. “Are you hurt?”

             Lance’s eyes dimmed. “My arm, it’s… It’s stuck.”

             Keith rose off his heels slightly to look. His face paled. “Just – hold on. I’ll get you out of here.” He began pulling debris from Lance’s waist, trying to be as gentle as possible. Panic made his fingers clumsy, and he muttered an apology as Lance hissed in pain when he almost dropped a heavy piece of what had probably been part of the control panel on his hip.

             “Keith.”

             He pulled another piece off.

             “Keith, hey.”

             He sighed and let go of a handful of rocks. “I’m trying to help –”

             Lance was staring at him, his eyebrows furrowed. “Are you okay?”

             “Of course I’m okay,” Keith snapped.

             “Then why are your hands shaking?”

             Keith stared back. “Well, I – you – you’re buried under rocks and metal and you’re really asking me that?”

             Lance chuckled, letting his head fall back to the floor. “I’m not going to die, dude. Just take a deep breath. You’re making me anxious.”

             Keith closed his eyes for a moment, inhaling deeply. His fingers closed around another piece of metal and pulled it away. Lance was silent save for the painful rasp of his breathing. He didn’t complain, but Keith noticed that he kept glancing at his buried arm, as if he knew it would hurt a hell of a lot more.

             “I was scared,” Keith blurted out. The words tumbled from his mouth like water bursting through a dam. “I thought you were dead.”

             Lance’s eyes flickered to Keith. “You can’t get rid of me that easy.”

             “I’m glad you’re not.” Keith said.

             Lance paused. “Thanks for coming to find me.”

             Keith pulled another piece free, a small smile on his lips. He was glad it was dark, because he would have been utterly mortified if Lance saw him blushing.

             “How – how did you even know where Blue was?”

             “I saw her.” Keith shrugged. “I would have stayed in Red, but she wasn’t going anywhere, and when I saw you guys I knew I had to come find you.”

             “How is Blue?” The lightness faded from Lance’s voice.

             Keith stood and walked over to the wall to grab the first aid kit before returning to the mound on Lance’s arm. “She’s a fighter. She’ll be okay.”

             Lance swallowed. “When the window shattered, the wind hit me so hard that I think it knocked me on the floor. I don’t really remember much after that, but I can’t hear Blue anymore. At all.” He turned his head to monitor what Keith was doing. There was no missing the tremble in his voice.

             Keith opened his mouth to respond, but his words died in his throat as the floor of the cockpit began to shake. A rumble of thunder echoed around them before a shockwave slammed into the blue lion, sending Keith falling backwards onto Lance as the lion rocked back from the impact. Lance barked in pain as Keith scrambled off his legs and braced himself against the floor until the shaking subsided. “Sorry,” Keith gasped, holding one hand against his ribs with a wince. “What – the pulse?”

             “It’s gotta be. Look, the emergency lights are flickering on and off.” Lance jerked his chin up at the ceiling. “Maybe it’s some kind of EMP.”

             “Every half an hour,” Keith said softly.

             “If it comes that often…”

             “We’re grounded.”

             Lance let out a soft puff of air. “Shit.”

             Keith made his way back to Lance’s buried arm. He turned to look at Lance again, a grim smile on his face. “Then we’re doing this the old-fashioned way.”

             Lance made a face. “What, like you did in back on Earth? Ew. I am so not becoming a desert hermit, Keith.”

             “No, idiot, we’re gonna _walk_ out of here.” Keith placed one hand on Lance’s left shoulder and the other on the debris pile. “On our own two legs. And then, we’re gonna find Pidge and Hunk too. And after that, we can find out what’s causing that pulse and shut it off. But I have to do this first. Are you ready?”

             Lance nodded. “I trust you. Just do it.”

_I trust you._

             With all of their bickering, those were the last words Keith had been expecting. He gave Lance a firm nod. “Three, two –”

             He yanked the first piece free.

             It was an agonizingly slow process. He went as fast as he could, but as he got closer to Lance’s arm, the more it seemed to hurt. His breath was heaving in his chest and sweat ran freely from his brow, and he sometimes screamed through gritted teeth as Keith lifted the weight from his arm. The piece that had really pinned him was a long, jagged chunk of control panel. Glass was still attached to it and the shards had pierced Lance’s skin, and the weight on top of it had pushed them even deeper.

             “How’s it looking?” Lance panted, his eyes on the lights above.

             “Almost there,” Keith said. “This is going to hurt.”

             “Like that’s new,” Lance ground out.

              Thank god for the Alteans and their advanced medical tech. It was no cryopod, but Keith held a slender cauterizing pole in the free fingers of one hand. It glowed a bright, hot red. He grabbed onto both sides of the control panel, thankful the pieces of glass were fairly straight. If he pulled the piece up just right, he should be able to cauterize most of the wounds fully before –

             “Any time now, samurai,” Lance said, his voice tight.

             “Right, sorry, sorry.” Keith took a deep breath and pulled hard, throwing the piece of metal and glass behind him as it came free and blood spilled out over Lance’s exposed arm. Pinning the arm between his knees, Keith set about cauterizing each cut, trying desperately to block out Lance’s cries of pain. The armour around the wounds let out a high-pitched whine as he placed the red-hot rod against it. It was a small blessing, if only because it gave him another sound to focus on and eased his guilt. “Sorry, I’m sorry – there.”

             “Damn, that sucked.” Lance let out a shaky breath. Keith helped him sit upright. He turned his arm over slowly to assess the damage as Keith slipped his helmet over his head. “Uhh, it’s still bleeding.”

             “I only cauterized the big ones,” Keith said. “And I’m going to need to look at it again soon – this is just to keep you from bleeding out. Your hips and legs are probably bruised, maybe sprained. Or worse. We should head back to Red.”

             “I can’t just leave Blue.”

             “Lance, she’s in much worse condition than Red.” Keith picked up Lance’s helmet, struggling to keep his voice soft. “We need the supplies from Red, too. Most of the supplies on the blue lion were ruined in the crash, and we can’t find Pidge and Hunk with you in this state.” A pang went through his heart at the utter defeat on Lance’s face. He gently placed the helmet over Lance’s head. “We’ll come back for her.”

             Lance closed his eyes and nodded. He had nothing left in him to argue with.

             Keith slid Lance’s arm around his shoulder and stood slowly, pulling Lance up with him. “I mean it. We’ll come back as soon as we can.”

             And together, leaning against each other for support, they made their way outside.


	3. Heartbeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things start picking up and going to all kinds of shit in this chapter. Get ready. 
> 
> I made a playlist for this fic! You can find it here: (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcepc0bWlJ2H3jlAErMwyZunGrTPvxsPP)  
> Each song has a meaning in some way, but you can interpret it however you want :)
> 
> As always, you can find me here: (https://texanspaceranger.tumblr.com/)!

             “How much further do you think those trees are?” Lance asked, hissing in a breath as Keith pushed off from the rock-hard earth beneath their feet with a burst from his jetpack. His left arm was clutched to his chest in a makeshift sling, and his right arm was wrapped around Keith’s shoulders to keep him from falling off. Each takeoff from the ground jostled him roughly against Keith’s armour and sent his injuries into screaming protest.

            “We’re close,” was all Keith said.

            Lance sighed through his nose.

_He is so freaking stubborn._

            Keith hadn’t said a single word since they’d left Red behind and headed for the treeline. Not that Lance could blame him; every step away from Blue hit him like a punch to the gut. But upon reaching the fallen red lion, Lance had spotted a faint column of smoke rising over what looked like a large forest. With no clues and no tech to lead them to Pidge or Hunk, it was the only lead they had, and they couldn’t afford to stay with Red and wait.

            They had gathered all the supplies they could carry, and Keith did his best to care for the wounds on Lance’s arm before they left. His fingers had been steady this time, gentle and sure, ghosting across the surface of Lance’s skin as he stitched and bound each gash, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He’d removed the armour plates and boots from Lance’s legs with equal softness and rolled up the thick mesh material of his suit to discover a sprained ankle that ached so sharply it brought tears to Lance’s eyes. The two paladins spent 20 minutes sitting on the cold floor of Red’s cargo hold, Keith pressing ice to the swollen ankle.

            Lance had said, “I can do that while you fix yourself up, man. I know you’re hurt.”

            Keith had just said, “Don’t worry about me.”

            Lance closed his eyes as they pushed forwards again, his cheeks warm. He could still feel Keith’s warm fingers trailing over his skin, small ghosts demanding his attention. He wasn’t sure why he noticed it so much.

            His ankle was now bound with bright white compression tape inside of his boot, and he held it just above the ground to keep it from further injury. Keith had also been able to use Red’s unbroken medical equipment to examine his rib injury and, thankfully, nothing was broken – just badly bruised. He had wrapped his chest in the same white tape, brushing it off like it didn’t hurt, but Lance could hear Keith’s breath catch every time they landed. He was trying to breathe normally and failing miserably.

            “Keith, we should rest.” Lance said. Two of the strange energy pulses had already slammed into them as they trekked, knocking them both to the ground without mercy. His stomach turned uneasily as he tried to count – how much longer until another wave? He thought that one had just hit them, but he could barely keep track of their surroundings, let alone time.

            “No.” Keith’s voice was firm. “We’re too close.”

            “You said that like half a varga ago!”

            “Look.”

            Lance bit back another sigh and raised his tired head, the treeline swimming into focus in front of him. The trees loomed ahead, a dense, near-impenetrable wall of leaves and thick, gnarled trunks. “Damn,” he said, breaking off to cough, “I didn’t even notice.” God, his head hurt.

            Keith grunted in agreement, slowly lowering them to the ground in front of the forest. “You’ve been barely conscious. And _heavy_.”

            Lance narrowed his eyes. “Hey!”

            “I’m kidding,” Keith laughed softly and winced. “Ouch. No more laughing.”

            “You picked the wrong paladin to get stuck with, then.” Lance smiled weakly at him. “I’m hilarious.” Even with his ankle throbbing and his arm on fire and what felt like a massive hammer was pounding a hole through his skull, he could still joke. It was worth it to see the hint of a smile tug at the corners of Keith’s mouth.

            Lance cleared his throat and turned his attention to the trees in front of them. They soared up towards the sky, a massive teal canopy against the faint pink that marked the beginning of a sunset. His head dipped to the side slightly as his brows furrowed. “Hey man, these trees… The leaves are teal.”

            “And the trunks are grey,” Keith agreed. “We’ve seen weirder, Lance. We’re in space.”

            “They’re pretty, though,” Lance said quietly, the colour tugging at something in his gut, something just out of reach, like a memory slipping through his fingers no matter how desperately he clutched at it. He clenched his teeth. If only his head would stop spinning, he may have been able to catch it. He could feel Keith’s eyes on his face, and he deliberately avoided looking back. “Let’s go. We don’t know how long that smoke will be there.”

            Keith hesitated, and Lance could see the words jumbled just behind his teeth, unsure of what exactly it was he wanted to say. He settled on, “Okay.” He tightened his grip on Lance’s waist as the two began a slow, awkward half-walk, half-hop into the trees.

            They hadn’t taken more than three steps when Keith stopped again and cursed. “Screw it. Get on my back.”

            Lance blinked. “Uh – what? Why?”

            “This is going to take forever with your ankle like this,” Keith replied. “I can walk a hell of a lot faster if I’m carrying you.”

            Lance looked down at Keith’s ribs. It would be such a relief to just rest for a while, but with that injury… “Won’t it hurt?”

            Keith shrugged. “Yeah, but we don’t have time to wait. I want to get into that forest and hidden behind some trees before the next wave. We don’t have another choice.”

            For a moment, Lance considered arguing, but he wasn’t entirely sure he had a better idea, and Keith – well, Keith was the leader now. He nodded and reached with his right hand to adjust the straps of the backpack tighter against his back. The less the supplies swung, the easier it would be for Keith to carry him. “Okay, samurai.”

            Keith smirked and slowly let go of Lance’s waist, waiting until he could balance on his good leg before letting go completely. He sank to his knees in front of Lance with his arms held away from his side. “Whenever you’re ready. I won’t drop you.”

            He looked so vulnerable, kneeling there on the dusty grass, his armour covered in scratches and dirt and Lance’s blood. His eyes focused on the nape of Keith’s neck, his helmet covering the spot where the wild strands of his dark hair usually fell against his skin. It struck him just how small he looked in that moment; Keith would never kneel for anybody, would never let anyone tower over him like this, a weakness exposed.

 _I must be coming down with a fever,_ Lance thought, shaking his head vigorously. _What the hell am I even thinking about?_

            Carefully, he draped his good arm over Keith’s shoulder and bent his knee to lower himself against Keith’s back. Keith’s arms wrapped around both of his thighs as he pushed up slowly from the ground with a grunt of pain. Lance murmured a short apology as he rested his sling against Keith’s shoulder.

            “Better?” Keith asked, taking a step forward.

            Lance hated to admit it, but the strain off of his good leg was like the touch of cold water on a burn – relieving, blissful. “Yeah, actually.” He let his head fall against Keith’s shoulder, black spots dancing around the edges of his vision. “I’m, uh, not feeling so great.”

            “We’ll set up camp once we’re inside the tree cover,” Keith assured him. His voice sounded so close that Lance could almost feel the rumble of it through his armour. “Just – just keep talking. Keep awake.”

            Lance smiled faintly, his forehead pressed against the cool glass of his helmet. “Whaddya wanna talk about, samurai?”

            “I don’t know. Whatever comes up in that brain of yours.”

            “That’s not exactly helpful, dude.”

            “Sorry.”

            Lance closed his eyes. “Jeez. You must have sucked at Truth or Dare.”

            Keith laughed quietly. “I never really played it much.”

            “Really? Wait, no – I’m not actually surprised. Do you know the rules?”

            “Well yeah.”

            “Then let’s play.”

            Keith tightened his grip around Lance’s thighs as they passed further into the trees. “It sounds stupid, but fine.”

            “Truth or dare?”

            “Truth.”

            Lance opened his eyes again, watching the patterns of the bark on the trees around him. A hundred questions whirled around in his mind – _Who was your first kiss? What’s your favourite colour? Have you ever shoplifted? Why exactly did the Garrison kick you out?_ He was thinking too much.“What’s your biggest fear?”

            “Starting with that one? Seriously?” Keith stumbled over a root and Lance’s head bounced sharply against his back. “Sorry. Uh, I guess…” His voice grew soft, so quiet that Lance had to strain to hear him. “I guess leading. Being the leader.”

            Lance kept his eyes on the trees around them, spinning those words over and over in his head. His hands felt clammy inside of his gloves and sweat dripped from his temple to the glass against his face. God, his head ached. “Why?”

            “I can’t lead like Shiro.” Keith’s voice shrunk even further. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me. But every time I make a decision, it’s – it’s always the wrong one.”

            “Not always,” Lance said gently.

            “Do you think I’m a good leader?” Keith asked abruptly, his voice unsteady. His hands shook slightly against Lance’s thighs.

            “Not yet,” Lance said honestly, “but I think you’ll be a great one.”

            Keith didn’t stay anything.

            “Seriously, man. Just because we disagree sometimes doesn’t mean I – we – think you suck. We just keep you grounded. It’s okay to make mistakes!” Lance tightened his grip on Keith’s shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself all the time.”

            Keith’s shoulders lost their tension as he let out a long breath. “Thanks, Lance.”

            His heart skipped a beat, robbing the breath from his sore lungs. “Yeah, no problem.”

            “So… truth or dare?”

            “Truth.”

            “Did you… uh… Ever play any instruments?”

            Lance snorted, his heartbeat still a mess. “I ask you your biggest fear, and you ask me about _that_?” He shook his head and continued despite Keith’s protesting. “I actually play the guitar. My dad taught me when I was a kid. I was pretty good, too. Made the ladies swoon every time.”

            Now it was Keith’s turn to scoff. “Uh, right. And what did you like to play?” He asked, all offense forgotten.

            “Anything acoustic,” Lance said, his voice turning wistful. It hurt to speak so much, but he did it anyway. “I loved turning songs into acoustic versions too. I liked how soft they were, and it suited my voice, too, so…”

            He trailed off, imagining the feel of the strings beneath his fingers as his father looked on, eyes crinkling as he smiled. His father’s guitar pick was sitting on his outstretched palm, the beautiful teal glass shining in the dim light of the living room. His last gift to Lance before he’d left for the Garrison. An acknowledgement of how far his playing had come. Hot tears pricked at the corners of Lance’s eyes.

            Keith’s voice cut through the memory and it fluttered away, vanishing like smoke. “What was your favourite song to play, then?”

            “I’ll play it for you sometime,” Lance mumbled, his thoughts still galaxies away. He knew the words, but to admit the title out loud felt too personal. Too much.

            Keith paused. “I – I’d like that.”

             Lance opened his mouth to respond, but his eyes caught on a shadow in the trees some distance away. He blinked, convinced he was hallucinating again. The shadow was still there, tall and slender, keeping pace with them as they walked.

            “Keith.”

            “What?”

            “Look to your left.”

            Keith slowed his pace slightly, craning his head as Lance asked. Lance could feel the exact moment when he spotted it, his whole body going taut as a wire beneath him.

            “What the hell is that?” Keith hissed.

            “Hell if I know,” Lance breathed. Now that he looked closer, the shadowy figure seemed to lurch forwards with every step, as if it could barely keep from falling forwards. And it was surrounded by others just like it, walking in an eerily straight line, perfectly spaced from one another. He squinted, trying to identify any features the creatures might have, but the pounding in his head was too unforgiving to focus.

            “I don’t like that,” Keith said. “Why are they all so… so…”

            “Creepy?” Lance suggested. He lifted his head wearily to look past Keith’s shoulder, but all he could see was trees.

            “Let’s just keep going,” Keith said finally, hoisting Lance up higher with a hiss of pain. “I don’t want them to see –”

            When the pulse hit outside of the protection of the lions, it felt a little bit like the world was ending. Lance felt Keith fall forwards, the sheer violence of it like he had been kicked from the small of his back. Lance plunged toward the ground, landing hard against Keith’s shoulder on his bandaged arm with a yelp as white-hot fire raced through his nerves. His ankle screamed, dozens of tiny knives stabbing deep into his muscles. Keith swore violently, struggling to rise with Lance’s full weight pressing him into the dirt.

            Lance couldn’t breathe. His vision was a field of white and black spots and his ears stung from the ringing in them. His shoulder hit the root of one of the trees as Keith shoved him off, but the pain was far away, like he was feeling it through a glass wall, like he wasn’t really even in his body at all. He was barely aware of Keith pulling him to his feet and scooping him up against his back again, the red paladin moving forwards at a sickening pace.

            “Lance!” Keith’s muffled voice hit his ears, so loud. “Lance, I need you to be my eyes!”

            Lance blinked. _My eyes?_

            “Lance, I need you _now_!”

            Lance groaned and raised his head, struggling to hold it steady as he was bounced violently against Keith’s back. He saw nothing in front of them but trees. He turned his head around, his right hand clutching Keith’s shoulder in an iron grip.

            His blood chilled in his veins. The shadowy creatures were not lurching anymore. They had fanned out into a line behind them, crashing through the trees and bushes with high-pitched shrieks and howls. Their skin was a sickly shade of grey and covered in hideous boils and scars. Their heads were barely humanoid, the skulls stretched down in a way that seemed almost canine; thin, pointed ears shot up from their heads like the horns of a crown. The arms were longer than a human’s, and the back legs bent like a dog’s, resulting in a horrific, awkward gait. Still, they were closing the gap with terrifying speed. Lance locked eyes with the beast in the centre, his heart beating rapidly and his throat impossibly dry. Their eyes were compound, a pitch-black, reflective pool that Lance was drowning in.

            He tore his eyes away with a gasp. “Keith, go faster.”

            “I’m trying!”

            Lance risked another glance behind him, watching the creatures hunt them in perfect, deadly unison. His voice was shrill. “They’re catching up!”

            Keith’s feet pounded across the forest floor. Light filtered in from up ahead as the trees began to thin. The creatures’ wails were closer now, rising in victory.

            Keith skidded to a stop, stumbling as Lance’s weight carried him forwards. The break in the trees had led them straight to a cliff. Deep blue water rushed below them in a wide river, the roar audible over the creatures’ howling. Lance whipped his head around – too close, too goddamn close. His heart stopped. “ _Keith!_ ”

            Keith dropped Lance to the ground. Lance bit back a scream as his ankle collided with the ground, but he barely had time to process the pain before Keith shoved him off the edge.

            Something sharp ripped at his injured arm as he toppled from the cliff, his legs and arms pinwheeling as he tried desperately to right himself.  The wind whistled past his ears and tore at his armour as he fell. Deep blue and frothing white water rose to meet him, and he hit the water hard.

            It was cold, even through his armour. The shock of the impact was enough to daze him, and for several precious seconds he just let himself tumble through the current, numb. Without his suit, the fall probably would have killed him. The thought was so appalling he almost wanted to laugh.

            Feeling came back to his body abruptly as hand clamped around his arm and tugged him up, up, up towards the sunlight. He blinked light from his eyes as he broke the surface of the river, gasping air into his burning lungs. Keith’s face came into view, his breath fogging up the glass of his suit. “Are you okay?” Keith shouted. His arms worked furiously through the water to keep them both afloat, and discomfort was written all over his face. The impact on his ribs would have been horrible.

            Lance nodded, his throat too raw to respond. He kicked weakly towards the shore as Keith began to pull him towards it, but his eyes kept flicking up to the cliff, watching. His vision was going black and white again, pixels swimming in front of his eyes as the world pitched to the side. His shoulder was burning.

            His visor scraped against stone and sand. He didn’t have the strength to pull himself up. Keith’s hand was still wrapped around his bicep. He was shouting through a muffled veil. “Lance, hey – just a bit further – it’s a beach –”

            Lance was already out.


	4. Heat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY SEASON FOUR!!!!!!

           “Come on,” Keith said, striking the flint and steel together yet again with far more force than necessary. Though their backpack was made of pretty tough stuff, it wasn’t waterproof, and water had leaked through the thick fabric as he’d struggled to pull Lance to shore. If the planet’s EMP hadn’t already killed his fancy Altean lighter, it was most definitely dead now.

            He had laid out the rations and medical supplies to dry, but without a fire, it would take ages for them to dry in the cave. He’d thought about leaving them out on the beach for the sun to dry, but they couldn’t risk losing the supplies if any creatures came looking for them. So it was either risk a fire, or risk dying in a cold, damp cave. And Keith was definitely _not_ in the mood to be thinking about dying barely 30 feet from a stupid alien beach.

            Another strike, and nothing. “Fucking hell,” he muttered, closing his eyes with a long, pinched sigh. “Patience yields focus. Focus.” He gritted his teeth and struck the flint again.

            Finally, _finally_ , a small flame caught on the kindling he had gathered from the forest around them. He sucked in a breath, stoking the tiny fire gently with a stick until it grew to envelop the strange grey wood. His fingers ached with the cold, barely able to hold onto the stick. He held them before the fire with a small breath of relief, letting the fire bring life back into his stiff fingers. The warmth was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes. He ducked his head against his knees, taking slow, deep breaths.

            His head spun as his lungs struggled to pull in their full capacity. His suit was running dangerously low on oxygen; at best, it would be enough to last another day, provided he didn’t have to do any more running, swimming, or any sort of moving at all. It was something he hadn’t even thought to consider when they’d begun their trek into the forest. He knew that taking off his helmet had to happen. Risk dying, again, so they could live. If he suffocated, he supposed it was better than slowly suffocating later.

            He was pulled from a particularly horrifying image of what suffocation might look like as Lance stirred in his sleep beside him, a small groan slipping from his lips as he continued to shiver against the unforgiving stone floor. Keith lifted his head to look at him, watching the slow rise and fall of Lance’s chest as his stomach twisted itself further into a tangled mess. He had already removed the heavier pieces of armour and rebound Lance’s ankle, and the oozing gash on his shoulder had finally stopped staining through the damp bandage Keith had placed there. Now, the blue paladin was dressed only in their black under-armour, sleeping restlessly beside the fire as he shivered from the cold.

            He looked so small.

            How much air did Lance have left in his suit?

            The rational part of Keith knew that if there were Earth-like plants growing by the millions on this planet, there was most likely an abundant oxygen supply. His memory of basic biology was fuzzy, but photosynthesis should be the same. Plants created oxygen. Fire needed oxygen to burn, too. Further evidence that taking off his helmet wouldn’t kill him immediately.

            Damn, he really didn’t want to die on this stupid beach.

            He wanted – he wanted Shiro. Shiro would have known what to do, what to say, and Keith would have taken off his helmet without hesitation, without fear.

            But Shiro was not here.

            _I want you to lead Voltron._

His thoughts flickered to Lance again, unbidden, like always.

            _Do you think I’m a good leader?_

_Not yet. But I think you’ll be a great one._

            How his heart had soared at the words.

            “Can’t lead if I die on this beach,” Keith muttered, placing one hand on either side of his helmet. He inhaled sharply and yanked, ripping the helmet free like a bandage from a wound.

            He held the precious air inside of him for as long as he could, savouring it, anxiety pounding through his body in time with his heart. Slowly, he let the breath go. It felt almost like a goodbye, like an acceptance, because there was nothing left to do but breathe in again, and it could kill him –

            The air that flooded into his lungs was cold and dry and sharp and – air.

            It was air.

            Keith choked out a breathless laugh and dropped the helmet to the floor. The air was thinner than he was accustomed to, leaving empty space in his lungs when he inhaled, but he could breathe. And Lance could breathe, too.

            He whipped his head toward Lance again, chest heaving as his body tried to make sense of operating on restricted oxygen. He winced as the movement jolted his sore ribs. Gently, he reached for the blue helmet with one hand, lifting Lance’s head off of the dirt with the other. The helmet released from Lance’s suit with a quiet _pop_.

            A moment passed, and Lance began to cough. His sea-blue eyes blinked open rapidly, dark eyelashes fluttering against the tops of his cheeks. “My – my helmet –”

            “It’s okay,” Keith assured him, slowly lowering Lance’s head to the floor. “Just breathe.”

            His eyes focused on Keith’s face, tiny lines appearing between his eyebrows as they scrunched together and he seemed to recognize the pair of eyes staring down at him. “Keith?”

            “Yeah, uh, it’s me.”

            “Oh. Cool.” Lance’s voice was still a tired rasp, but somehow, he managed to keep his tone as light and breezy as always. Like waking up to oxygen deprivation was totally normal, just a thing that happened. No big deal. It was a skill Keith had never understood or been able to pull off. “Man. It’s cold.”

             Lance’s eyes were still locked on his, their usual spark shining through despite the haze of pain clouding them. Keith had to force himself to look away from the pools of blue before he drowned in them. “How are you feeling?” He asked, turning to poke at the fire with a frown. Damn. He’d need more wood before long.

             “Peachy.” Lance said. “My shoulder feels absolutely fantastic.”

             “One of those creatures got you, I think.” Keith’s frown deepened as he stared at the fire, twirling the stick idly between two fingers. “I cleaned it once, but most of our supplies are wet, so…”

_I wasn’t fast enough. I’m sorry._

            “I figured.” Lance’s laugh was more like a wheeze. “It’ll add to the scars. I’ll look like a certified badass by the time we get back.”

             Keith’s fingers clenched around the stick so hard he could feel the sinews beginning to bend.

            “I dunno if I can rock it like Shiro can, though.” Lance’s voice was far away, reaching Keith’s ears through a dull haze. He had a half-smile on his face; one that would normally send butterflies through Keith’s stomach. Right now, it was giving life to the tension building in his chest. “He really manages to pull of the whole awe-inspiring, _cool_ look.”

            “That’s not funny!” Keith snapped. The stick broke in time with his voice, a loud _crack_ splitting through the silence that fell over the cave.  Lance’s eyes were wide, focused intently on Keith’s face, his mouth slightly open with unspoken words dead on his tongue.

            Keith took a took a deep breath, trying to pull air back into his lungs. Anger, white and hot, burned through his blood – anger at himself, anger that Lance had gotten hurt _again_ and had the nerve to _joke_ about it. He struggled to push it down, soothe it. “That’s not – I’m sorry.”

            “It’s fine,” Lance said, the words tumbling out in a rush.

            Keith stared down at the broken halves of the stick as he lowered it gently to the floor, afraid of making it worse. “I’m going to get more firewood.” He stood and brushed dirt off of his suit with stiff, precise motions. His pulse was still roaring in his ears, drowning out the rational part of his head that knew he had flipped out over nothing. _Stupid._

            “Keith –”

            “I’ll be back soon.” He pivoted on his heel and made for the narrow entrance to the cave.

            “Be careful.”

            Keith hesitated, one hand against the cool stone to brace himself. “Thanks.”

 

***

 

            Lance leaned against the wall of the cave, grateful that Keith had enough foresight to build the fire in the back corner. Not only did it keep the light from seeping out of the cave, it was in the perfect spot for Lance to sit up and still feel the faint heat seeping through his suit and into his frozen body. His shivering had subsided somewhat, and he found that he could finally breathe without his teeth clattering against each other; even so, the fire wasn’t quite enough to warm him up.

_I’d kill for a blanket right now_ , he thought, longing for the comforter on his bed back at the castle. It wasn’t as soft as anything he had back home, but it was warm.

            He wasn’t sure what exactly he had said that set Keith off, though maybe joking about Shiro hadn’t been the best idea. He closed his eyes. In truth, his shoulder was throbbing with heat, a constant pulse that seemed to grow worse the longer he sat still. The wound beneath Keith’s bandages itched horribly. He bit his lip and resisted another urge to scratch at it.

            He was so tired. He couldn’t remember the last time he wasn’t tired. They’d only been stuck on the damn planet for what, two, three days? Yet somehow it felt like an eternity. Like he had been stuck in a constant cycle of panic, pain, and exhaustion for as long as he could remember. Even joking with Keith had been an effort, and that had backfired big time.

_So not worth it._

            His eyes flickered open, focusing on the jagged rocks near the entrance of the cave. He had no idea how long Keith had been gone. Blowing off steam, probably. Still, worry gnawed at his stomach relentlessly. Keith could take care of himself – he was the most competent fighter on the team – but those creatures were fast. Lance frowned and reached up to rest his hand against the wound on his shoulder, closing his eyes again. He could still feel the creature’s eyes on him as the claw sliced through the skin, the hot blood mixing with the shock of the water when they fell.

            Unbidden, his head began to droop as he slid into a fitful sleep, the fire slowly but surely dwindling beside him. But compound, shimmering eyes followed him in the dark, slipping in and out of consciousness with him, mocking him –

            “Lance?”

            Keith’s soft voice yanked him from his sleep with a jolt. Lance winced as his neck heavily protested the movement. His shoulder was still on fire, throbbing insistently at the back of his thoughts. Keith was kneeling in front of the fire, adding more of the strange grey wood to the fire. “You came back,” he mumbled.

            “Uh, yeah, I did.” Keith was deliberately avoiding his eyes. “Sorry – about before. I was just… tired.”

            “All good, man,” Lance said with an easy smile, trying and failing to blink sleep from his eyes. “How were the woods? Creepy at night?”

            _Safe?_

            Keith shook his head. “Nah. Forest-y.”

            Lance rolled his eyes and huffed, a wave of relief flooding through his tired body. “Boring.”

            Despite himself, Keith smirked, finally looking up to meet his eyes. “Sorry to disappoint.”

            “I never said _that_ ,” Lance protested. A small cough bubbled out of his chest. Man, this atmosphere sucked. He could barely raise his voice without running out of air.

            Keith’s eyebrows narrowed. “How are you feeling? Have you been coughing a lot?”

            “No.”

            “How’s your shoulder?”

            Lance sighed through his nose. “It hurts. But I think it’s stopped bleeding for now.”

            Keith looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. “I’ll change all of your bandages in a few hours. I really don’t want that one to get infected.” He looked down at the fire. “Are you cold?”

            “I’m freezing,” Lance admitted.

            “The fire should be hotter now,” Keith said, jabbing a new stick into the flames for emphasis. “That should help.”

            Lance looked down at his hands, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. “It’s getting colder. Since, you know, it’s night now, or whatever.”

            “That happens at night, Lance.”

            “Right, yeah, well – I don’t know if the fire will be enough.” God, he sounded like such an awkward teenage boy. But he had taken basic first aid. He knew bodily contact created body heat. It was practical. Obvious. Quiznak, his face was _burning._

            Keith stared at him blankly. “We don’t have any blankets.”

            “Well,” Lance said, “we could – you know, cuddle. For warmth. Body heat.”

            Silence stretched between them, taut like a wire.

            Keith didn’t say anything.

            Cursing, Lance scrambled to backpedal. He fought to keep his voice from rising to a squeak as he tried to explain why on Earth he would ask such a stupid question of _Keith_ , his _rival,_ definitely _not_ someone he would ever ask to cuddle. Ever. Even if sometimes his small little smile did things to Lance’s heart. His injuries. He was sick and delusional and not thinking straight. “Just – for warmth, you know? Just sit beside me or something. I’m freezing and my shoulder really really hurts and I’m tired, but there is no way I will sleep if I spend the whole night shivering –”

            “Okay.” Keith said.

            Lance closed his mouth to keep it from hanging open like a fish. “I – uh, okay. Cool.” He suddenly felt out of breath again.

            “Cool.” A small smile was tugging at the corner of Keith’s mouth. Lance felt his cheeks getting redder as his heart did tiny backflips inside his chest. _Quiznak_. He really hoped the cave was dark enough that Keith couldn’t tell.

            He was almost thankful that his shoulder kept tugging at his attention and his eyes were drooping, because they kept him from hyperfocusing on Keith as he finished stacking the logs into the fire and pushed himself up to make his way over to Lance.

            Lance kept his eyes on the flames flickering in front of them as Keith slid down the wall to sit beside him. Even through the thick material of their suits, he could feel the heat of Keith’s body where they were pressed together. Maybe he always burned that hot, being the red paladin. He sighed, instantly relaxing against Keith’s side and letting his head droop against his shoulder.

            “Better?” Keith’s asked.

            “Yeah.” Lance said, shutting his eyes. “Are you always this warm?”

            “Pretty much.”

            “Lucky.” He was so, so tired. The pounding in his shoulder was more persistent now, so powerful he could feel it between his eyes, too. “Sorry if this makes you uncomfortable. I know you’re not really – not a huggy person.”

            He felt Keith shrug. “I don’t mind.”

            “Ooh, I guess I’m growing on you, huh.” His words came out slightly slurred.

            Keith chuckled softly. “Don’t get too full of yourself.”

            “Hey, Keith –”

            “Go to sleep, Lance.”

            He did.


End file.
